DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53068#0101
ROME
this pose of astonishment he was rejected for the Disputa, his gesture is
assigned as that of “holy dread” to the Pope in the Sistine Madonna. In the
glorification of the Sacrament he becomes the man tardily becoming conscious
of his conversion, a figure full of lofty emotion. Astonishment is more suited
to the youths; the man does not alter his pose, and in his intense agitation he has
a more agitating effect. Thus he now steps towards the altar. But in this case
the youths have to make room for him; in the Vaughan drawing (Plate 65)
they are seen scattered over the steps of the altar; now their movements become
several degrees more restrained, we are witnesses to the astonishment that is
just beginning to overwhelm them and has not yet quite brought them to their
knees. In this there is more significance! Thus this group, now restored, is
shown by the great drawing in the Albertina (R. VI, 273). It has unfortun-
ately been ruined; used on the spot whilst the work was being executed, passing
from hand to hand, it suffered even more when a raw hand restored the white
of the high lights; the unmistakable traces of Raphael’s crayon lines remained
however undisturbed in the beautiful youth to the left and the priest by the
altar on the right. The sheet was divided into squares, for transferring. As the
composition now stood, it seemed to Raphael to be finished. Now the row of
heads leads surging on towards the Sacrament. Yet there remains a gap behind
the newly-converted proselyte; the eye does not pass easily from the head to the
mitre. Then, in the fresco, another mitre is inserted beside this one, and the
great guiding line is restored. Finally, on the extreme left, a retarding group is
introduced instead of that stepping forwards, an eddy, as it were, before the
breaking wave—the heretics with the portrait of Bramante.
Of the opposite side, beyond the altar, we hardly possess preliminary designs.
Here very much must have been lost. But symmetry must have resulted with a
certain musical necessity; the rhythmic flow and the points of emphasis must
inevitably have been repeated here.
For the upper part also a great deal is missing that might have enabled us to
participate in the development from that first Dante-vision, dissolved in light,
to this rigidly-arched semicircle of the picture.
There are separate studies for the sacred figures at Oxford, Milan and
Florence. They are carried out in chalk, with high lights in white; the white often
envelopes the blackish-grey shadows so that the figures seem to float in light as if
transfigured. A study for the angels (Plate 74, R. VI, 297, 298) on both sides
of the sheet in the Malcolm Collection comprises the most charming of visions.
These beings live in higher spheres—or rather, they come from thence, with
unencumbered step, in flight that we can believe in, wafted through endless
expanses. The middle angel gazes down from almost dizzy heights and points
towards still further heights, a figure like those of Milton. Their outlines are
firm and hazy, as their element; their bodies seem all light and lightness.
Raphael was then conscious of his capacity for making heavenly regions
83
this pose of astonishment he was rejected for the Disputa, his gesture is
assigned as that of “holy dread” to the Pope in the Sistine Madonna. In the
glorification of the Sacrament he becomes the man tardily becoming conscious
of his conversion, a figure full of lofty emotion. Astonishment is more suited
to the youths; the man does not alter his pose, and in his intense agitation he has
a more agitating effect. Thus he now steps towards the altar. But in this case
the youths have to make room for him; in the Vaughan drawing (Plate 65)
they are seen scattered over the steps of the altar; now their movements become
several degrees more restrained, we are witnesses to the astonishment that is
just beginning to overwhelm them and has not yet quite brought them to their
knees. In this there is more significance! Thus this group, now restored, is
shown by the great drawing in the Albertina (R. VI, 273). It has unfortun-
ately been ruined; used on the spot whilst the work was being executed, passing
from hand to hand, it suffered even more when a raw hand restored the white
of the high lights; the unmistakable traces of Raphael’s crayon lines remained
however undisturbed in the beautiful youth to the left and the priest by the
altar on the right. The sheet was divided into squares, for transferring. As the
composition now stood, it seemed to Raphael to be finished. Now the row of
heads leads surging on towards the Sacrament. Yet there remains a gap behind
the newly-converted proselyte; the eye does not pass easily from the head to the
mitre. Then, in the fresco, another mitre is inserted beside this one, and the
great guiding line is restored. Finally, on the extreme left, a retarding group is
introduced instead of that stepping forwards, an eddy, as it were, before the
breaking wave—the heretics with the portrait of Bramante.
Of the opposite side, beyond the altar, we hardly possess preliminary designs.
Here very much must have been lost. But symmetry must have resulted with a
certain musical necessity; the rhythmic flow and the points of emphasis must
inevitably have been repeated here.
For the upper part also a great deal is missing that might have enabled us to
participate in the development from that first Dante-vision, dissolved in light,
to this rigidly-arched semicircle of the picture.
There are separate studies for the sacred figures at Oxford, Milan and
Florence. They are carried out in chalk, with high lights in white; the white often
envelopes the blackish-grey shadows so that the figures seem to float in light as if
transfigured. A study for the angels (Plate 74, R. VI, 297, 298) on both sides
of the sheet in the Malcolm Collection comprises the most charming of visions.
These beings live in higher spheres—or rather, they come from thence, with
unencumbered step, in flight that we can believe in, wafted through endless
expanses. The middle angel gazes down from almost dizzy heights and points
towards still further heights, a figure like those of Milton. Their outlines are
firm and hazy, as their element; their bodies seem all light and lightness.
Raphael was then conscious of his capacity for making heavenly regions
83